The article cites high solar activity in the last 60 years or so, compared with the last 1200 years (the results quoted are far from absolute and trends are not certain - the best record being the 400 year sun spot record). There is the assumption that the high solar activity would have a fixed extra heat input which would cause a fixed temperature increase. The actual case is more complex. Higher temperatures result in more CO2 being released by biological activity - plant decomposition and release of frozen plant matter into the decomposition cycle. I believe that the solubility of gases also decreases with temperature, resulting in release of oceanic CO2. These features, coupled with the CO2 from human activity would cause a continued warming effect from any increase in solar irradiance, resulting in a moving equilibrium. If there is an effect due to solar activity, altering the level of cosmic rays striking the earth's atmosphere, the consequence of that effect is not clear. The postulated effect of reduced cloud cover due to a shortage of cosmic particles in the atmosphere, resulting in a reduced albedo and increased solar warming would hardly account for record hurricane seasons. Further, increased solar activity should provide a wealth of ion-forming medium energy particles, offsetting any lack of cosmic rays. The result of more clouds could be an enhanced thermal transport resulting from increased tropical cloud formation, or the same cloud formation could result in increased albedo and thus reduced heating from the sun. This effect is further complicated by the gradual decrease of the Earth's magnetic field, which would tend to permit more penetration of charged particles into our atmosphere. This is a small but continuing effect and may have some tipping point influence on the other feedback loops. The effect that we see on Global temperatures is a complex combination of influences that may include - or have been initiated by an increase in solar luminosity. The sun spot record suggests it. The exageration of the consequences of that increase is due to many factors, including that of man-made CO2. It is a bit naive to rush off and try to fix the problem over the short term, because the trouble has been brewing for over 300 years. It is a lesson in the consequences of ignorance, and should, in a perfect world, result in a sustainable closed economy, where our inputs and outputs balance. The unanswered question in my mind is - How long will the solar effect last and what can we expect next?
The problem with having drivers written for Vista by small hardware manufacturers is the complexity that MS has built into the new model. Video drivers can be 20 MILLION lines of code for each of 6 different modes. This is comparable to the size of the code for WIN NT, which was a lot of code when it came out. It seems that the five years of development was spent in finding ways to plug up the new larger hard drives.
And how many angels do you think can dance on the head of a pin? The question of self-created or pre-existing or eternal are questions beyond our scope and scale. They mean nothing in terms that we can deal with. It is pointless to even consider. The only question that can be examined is "Does God exist?" The importance of this question can be examined using a simple descision table. If God exists and you do nothing, you are the loser. If God exists and you examine the consequences, you may benefit. If God does not exist, neither option gains or loses. The rational choice is to examine the existence of God. The question of moral behaviour is not more than a side issue. I believe it was Locke(?) that originally proposed that the outcome of behaving with enlightened self-interest would result in the same behaviour as being altruistic. The real question is "How can I test the existence of God?" There is nothing that anyone else can do or say that will make any difference to another person. This is something that YOU have to test or it is meaningless.
There are lots of possible energy solutions. The idea of growing algae in giant fresh water lagoons has been well studied. See http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/ Sewage from large cities could be used to promote algae growth and the advantage of CO2 recycling and central energy production as well as sewage management would bring cost efficiencies that should keep costs reasonable. The biggest hurdle has been a suitable energy storage system. This kind of advance will be a major step in realizing an energy production system that does not rely on foreign oil.
I agree that it is attractive if the idea is not overdone. Organic matter that has settled in a deep ocean trench is effectively removed from the atmospheric cycle for the indefinite future. Pressure alone will keep any CO2 or methane tied up as carbonates or clathrates or possibly even as liquified gases. The worry comes from the ocean currents and the weather-related upwelling of deep ocean sediments that is well-known off the coast of South America. Sediments rich in decaying organic matter could potentially deplete all the oxygen in the coastal areas - just exactly the areas of richest marine life. It would be very hard to predict such an event with our current knowledge of ocean currents. Documenting it after the fact would be the record of a tragedy.
Sorry, I did not see any mention of fresh water systems. The lead-in talked about algae from seeding the Southern oceans with iron. See post http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/1 2/1141222 Such a course would be somewhat dangerous if we don't know the consequences, and even with some research, ocean currents and different biospheres in large areas of open ocean would make any generalization questionable. The idea of using algae ponds in a land-locked situation seems feasible. I would expect that an artificial lake would be needed since any natural lake would be killed by such a process. It could be an interesting sewage treatment option as well.
Just looked at the link in the next thread. It talks about drivers for Vista being 20 million lines of code!!! Also, 6 drivers are needed versus 2 in XP. So the driver package is about the size of Win NT.... I have read elsewhere that the modular structure of Vista has 7 video components of which 5 are devoted to DRM. Most of the hoops that the developers complain about relate to the Vista DRM restrictions. "Tilt bits" and hi resolution degrading are DRM responses designed to prevent playing of copy protected videos on your PC. If the DRM initiative, which may be history in the near future, has caused this code bloat and introduced a bunch of "mother-may-I" rules that slows the product cycle for the manufacturers, YOU can expect to pay for it. The costs of the extra coding and debugging and the ensuing slower product cycle and reduced margins caused by the coding nightmare will be passed on. Game developers will face the same headaches and if the code bloat hits them as hard, they will be pricier too. Vista may be something that you can avoid for a few years, but the costs that M$ is forcing on us all are here already.
The question that you neglect is what happens to the plankton that dies and falls to the ocean floor? Does it rot quietly or does it deplete the oxygen from the sea water? A solution to global warming that results in massive die-off of ocean life from lack of oxygen does not quite meet the need.
Reading these posts is like reading the blind argue about the existence of the Moon. Just because you don't understand how it works does not mean it isn't real. Consider the workers of miracles that we have heard about. All of them were religious people and they had a moral (What's that?) basis for their lives. They would consider the kind of use being tested an offensive waste of divine gifts. That the people being tested did not do better than statistical average only means that they are not saints. And saints would not waste such a powerful gift on the blind. Miracles happen for a purpose, not for winning at dice. Wise cracks to follow......
Most people don't keep reactors that might explode in their basements. Making hydrogen is inherently dangerous and storing it is only slightly less so. It really only makes sense if it can be obtained cheaply and consumed immediately to generate heat and electricity, both of which are more readily stored and distributed than hydrogen. The only hydrogen generation processes that don't consume so much energy that they are infeasible are photo-catalytic decomposition of water (using sunlight - not yet viable) and microbial decomposition of biomass - usually with other by-products. As a fuel for vehicles, it is really not realistic. Either you need a ton of hydride forming metal in a tank - doubling the weight of a vehicle or you need a pressure vessel - also heavy and a real danger in a collision. What we need to have is a good battery/flywheel or the like that can be charged in a short time. Trucks and busses could recharge at bus loops or warehouses/truck inspection stations etc. Any long hauls should be limited to trains and ships. Passenger vehicles should be similarly handled. The current limitations would prohibit using them for travel more than about 100 km before recharge, but that could change with improvements in technology. If we are going to spend billions on technology, let's spend it on improving what uses our current infrastructure, not on the wasteful conversion to hydrogen for driving.
Slashdot Mirror
The article cites high solar activity in the last 60 years or so, compared with the last 1200 years (the results quoted are far from absolute and trends are not certain - the best record being the 400 year sun spot record). There is the assumption that the high solar activity would have a fixed extra heat input which would cause a fixed temperature increase. The actual case is more complex. Higher temperatures result in more CO2 being released by biological activity - plant decomposition and release of frozen plant matter into the decomposition cycle. I believe that the solubility of gases also decreases with temperature, resulting in release of oceanic CO2. These features, coupled with the CO2 from human activity would cause a continued warming effect from any increase in solar irradiance, resulting in a moving equilibrium. If there is an effect due to solar activity, altering the level of cosmic rays striking the earth's atmosphere, the consequence of that effect is not clear. The postulated effect of reduced cloud cover due to a shortage of cosmic particles in the atmosphere, resulting in a reduced albedo and increased solar warming would hardly account for record hurricane seasons. Further, increased solar activity should provide a wealth of ion-forming medium energy particles, offsetting any lack of cosmic rays. The result of more clouds could be an enhanced thermal transport resulting from increased tropical cloud formation, or the same cloud formation could result in increased albedo and thus reduced heating from the sun. This effect is further complicated by the gradual decrease of the Earth's magnetic field, which would tend to permit more penetration of charged particles into our atmosphere. This is a small but continuing effect and may have some tipping point influence on the other feedback loops. The effect that we see on Global temperatures is a complex combination of influences that may include - or have been initiated by an increase in solar luminosity. The sun spot record suggests it. The exageration of the consequences of that increase is due to many factors, including that of man-made CO2. It is a bit naive to rush off and try to fix the problem over the short term, because the trouble has been brewing for over 300 years. It is a lesson in the consequences of ignorance, and should, in a perfect world, result in a sustainable closed economy, where our inputs and outputs balance. The unanswered question in my mind is - How long will the solar effect last and what can we expect next?
The problem with having drivers written for Vista by small hardware manufacturers is the complexity that MS has built into the new model. Video drivers can be 20 MILLION lines of code for each of 6 different modes. This is comparable to the size of the code for WIN NT, which was a lot of code when it came out. It seems that the five years of development was spent in finding ways to plug up the new larger hard drives.
And how many angels do you think can dance on the head of a pin? The question of self-created or pre-existing or eternal are questions beyond our scope and scale. They mean nothing in terms that we can deal with. It is pointless to even consider. The only question that can be examined is "Does God exist?" The importance of this question can be examined using a simple descision table. If God exists and you do nothing, you are the loser. If God exists and you examine the consequences, you may benefit. If God does not exist, neither option gains or loses.
The rational choice is to examine the existence of God. The question of moral behaviour is not more than a side issue. I believe it was Locke(?) that originally proposed that the outcome of behaving with enlightened self-interest would result in the same behaviour as being altruistic. The real question is "How can I test the existence of God?" There is nothing that anyone else can do or say that will make any difference to another person. This is something that YOU have to test or it is meaningless.
There are lots of possible energy solutions. The idea of growing algae in giant fresh water lagoons has been well studied. See http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/ Sewage from large cities could be used to promote algae growth and the advantage of CO2 recycling and central energy production as well as sewage management would bring cost efficiencies that should keep costs reasonable. The biggest hurdle has been a suitable energy storage system. This kind of advance will be a major step in realizing an energy production system that does not rely on foreign oil.
I agree that it is attractive if the idea is not overdone. Organic matter that has settled in a deep ocean trench is effectively removed from the atmospheric cycle for the indefinite future. Pressure alone will keep any CO2 or methane tied up as carbonates or clathrates or possibly even as liquified gases. The worry comes from the ocean currents and the weather-related upwelling of deep ocean sediments that is well-known off the coast of South America. Sediments rich in decaying organic matter could potentially deplete all the oxygen in the coastal areas - just exactly the areas of richest marine life. It would be very hard to predict such an event with our current knowledge of ocean currents. Documenting it after the fact would be the record of a tragedy.
Sorry, I did not see any mention of fresh water systems. The lead-in talked about algae from seeding the Southern oceans with iron. See post http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/1 2/1141222
Such a course would be somewhat dangerous if we don't know the consequences, and even with some research, ocean currents and different biospheres in large areas of open ocean would make any generalization questionable. The idea of using algae ponds in a land-locked situation seems feasible. I would expect that an artificial lake would be needed since any natural lake would be killed by such a process. It could be an interesting sewage treatment option as well.
Just looked at the link in the next thread. It talks about drivers for Vista being 20 million lines of code!!! Also, 6 drivers are needed versus 2 in XP. So the driver package is about the size of Win NT.... I have read elsewhere that the modular structure of Vista has 7 video components of which 5 are devoted to DRM. Most of the hoops that the developers complain about relate to the Vista DRM restrictions. "Tilt bits" and hi resolution degrading are DRM responses designed to prevent playing of copy protected videos on your PC. If the DRM initiative, which may be history in the near future, has caused this code bloat and introduced a bunch of "mother-may-I" rules that slows the product cycle for the manufacturers, YOU can expect to pay for it. The costs of the extra coding and debugging and the ensuing slower product cycle and reduced margins caused by the coding nightmare will be passed on. Game developers will face the same headaches and if the code bloat hits them as hard, they will be pricier too. Vista may be something that you can avoid for a few years, but the costs that M$ is forcing on us all are here already.
The question that you neglect is what happens to the plankton that dies and falls to the ocean floor? Does it rot quietly or does it deplete the oxygen from the sea water? A solution to global warming that results in massive die-off of ocean life from lack of oxygen does not quite meet the need.
Reading these posts is like reading the blind argue about the existence of the Moon. Just because you don't understand how it works does not mean it isn't real. Consider the workers of miracles that we have heard about. All of them were religious people and they had a moral (What's that?) basis for their lives. They would consider the kind of use being tested an offensive waste of divine gifts. That the people being tested did not do better than statistical average only means that they are not saints. And saints would not waste such a powerful gift on the blind. Miracles happen for a purpose, not for winning at dice. Wise cracks to follow......
Most people don't keep reactors that might explode in their basements. Making hydrogen is inherently dangerous and storing it is only slightly less so. It really only makes sense if it can be obtained cheaply and consumed immediately to generate heat and electricity, both of which are more readily stored and distributed than hydrogen. The only hydrogen generation processes that don't consume so much energy that they are infeasible are photo-catalytic decomposition of water (using sunlight - not yet viable) and microbial decomposition of biomass - usually with other by-products. As a fuel for vehicles, it is really not realistic. Either you need a ton of hydride forming metal in a tank - doubling the weight of a vehicle or you need a pressure vessel - also heavy and a real danger in a collision. What we need to have is a good battery/flywheel or the like that can be charged in a short time. Trucks and busses could recharge at bus loops or warehouses/truck inspection stations etc. Any long hauls should be limited to trains and ships. Passenger vehicles should be similarly handled. The current limitations would prohibit using them for travel more than about 100 km before recharge, but that could change with improvements in technology. If we are going to spend billions on technology, let's spend it on improving what uses our current infrastructure, not on the wasteful conversion to hydrogen for driving.